What is Scoliosis?

We all have curves in our spines, but scoliosis causes the spine to curve in the wrong direction. It causes sideways curves, and those are different from the spine's normal curves.

If you were to look at your spine from the side, you'd see that it curves out at your neck (cervical spine), in at your mid-back (thoracic spine), and out again at your low back (lumbar spine). Your back is supposed to have those curves.

However, if you look at your spine from behind, you shouldn't see any curves at all. When there are sideways curves in the spine from this view, that's scoliosis. The curves can look like an 'S' or a 'C.'

Scoliosis is generally associated with children, but adults can have it, too. This typically happens when scoliosis is not detected during childhood or the disease progresses aggressively.

Scoliosis also brings up images of braces and perhaps memories of being tested for it in grade school by the school nurse. Bracing is one of the most common treatment options for scoliosis—a way to try to fix the curve without spine surgery.

Sometimes, though, the curve is too extreme and bracing doesn't help enough. In that case, you can have surgery to correct the curve.

For children especially, it can be frightening to learn that they have scoliosis. Having that label makes them different at a time in their lives when they don't want to be all that different. They might not like the idea of wearing a brace, either. But scoliosis is nothing to be scared or ashamed of. With the proper treatment, scoliosis doesn't have to define your life.